Uveal melanoma

As the national reference center for management of this eye tumor in adults, Institut Curie is also the European coordinator of the only large-scale program on this disease to date.

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Uveal melanoma is the most common form of eye cancer in adults. Institut Curie is internationally renowned for its expertise in this form of cancer. It also coordinates an H2020 European Union framework program for research and innovation on uveal melanoma, UV Cure 2020. With €6 million in financing, it involves 11 European partners.

UM Cure: finding treatments for metastatic forms of cancer

The idea of UM Cure 2020 is to analyze tumor samples to find therapeutic targets, biomarkers that identify patients with the highest risk of developing metastases, and patients likely to benefit from new therapeutic approaches. Institut Curie has the following resources to conduct this project:

A database of tumor samples acquired over many years.

A translational research group entirely devoted to uveal melanoma

The end goal of the UM Cure 2020 project is to validate new therapeutic approaches, at the pre-clinical level, against metastatic forms of cancer. Institut Curie is thus bringing together all of Europe’s leading experts in the research and treatment of these cancers, as well as the European network of uveal melanoma patients (?), and PamGene and PEP-Therapy, two biotechnology companies working on biomarkers and development of early clinical trials.

In addition to the Paris teams, the Orsay teams are involved in this project, in particular at the Proton Therapy Center, one of only two in France. This ultra-precise method of radiotherapy is the leading external radiotherapy treatment for this tumor location.